The present invention generally relates to television schedule information, and more particularly to a system and method for displaying a television program guide on a television screen.
As the number of television stations in a metropolitan area or on a cable network has increased, the number of programs of potential interest that are presented to a viewer has risen dramatically. With the use of dish antennas capable of receiving direct satellite signals, the multitude of programs available to the viewer has further increased.
Additionally, television faces a digital future that will see the merger of television and PC technology. The television set of the future will include a micro-computer, a modem of interconnectivity with other computers over networks, intranets, and the internet, and be connectable to computer peripherals such as printers. Such capabilities as near xe2x80x9cvideo on demandxe2x80x9d (NVOD), xe2x80x9cvideo on demandxe2x80x9d, access to the world wide webxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9caudio on demandxe2x80x9d, etc. will be present the viewer with a plethora of information and bandwidth.
As has become increasingly evident, information overload can actually reduce the usefulness of the information delivered. Accordingly, a great challenge exists to provide an interface that manages and provides an intelligent, user-friendly interface to the information available.
Consequently, television schedule systems that are provided directly on the viewer""s television screen have been developed to assist the viewer in sorting through these various programs and determining which programs to watch or record. One such television schedule system is disclosed in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 5,353,121 (Young et al.), the complete disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference. In one embodiment of Young, the television schedule includes a series of menu screens having an array of cells corresponding to different television programs. The viewer may scroll through the cells to view which television programs are being presented on various channels at various times. In addition, the viewer may select certain cells to obtain more information on the associated program or to pull up other submenus with additional options.
The recent development of television schedule systems, such as the above described patent to Young, have created many new challenges. One such challenge is providing a system and method that is suitable for use on a PC, PC/TV, WebTV, or TV to manage intelligently the vast stores of information available and provide user access and control directly through an electronic program guide. Another challenge is to facilitate easy access to a wide range of functionality through the combination of a limited number of user interactions.
The present invention provides a system and method for displaying schedule information on a visual interface, such as a television screen, a computer monitor or the like. The present invention also provides a system and method for allowing the viewer to navigate and interact with a program guide that is displayed, for example, on the viewer""s television screen. The program guide will usually include a schedule information area that depicts the programs that are being presented on each channel at each time during the day. With an input device, such as a remote control device, pointing device, mouse, keyboard, microphone or the like, the viewer can browse through the schedule information area and/or obtain more information about programs of particular interest.
According to one aspect of the invention, actions are directly invoked by moving a pointer over areas of the visual interface and selecting or xe2x80x9cclickingxe2x80x9d on the area. A xe2x80x9ccontextual help windowxe2x80x9d in the display area prompts the user as to what can be or needs to be done as the user moves the pointer over the display area. This feature insures that the user always knows what""s going on.
In one aspect of the invention, a system and method is provided for allowing the viewer to utilize display action controls, configured as glyphs, to recursively vary the configuration of the display area. Each glyph is activated by a point and click action of the user input device and serves as a switch for changing between two modes.
According to one aspect of the invention, an xe2x80x9cinformation glyphxe2x80x9d switches back and forth between a title-only grid/list of many items (either a grid or listing, with one item selected) and an xe2x80x9cinformation expansionxe2x80x9d of a single item (expanding to display scrollable program or item information). The information glyph provides zoom-out for an overview or zoom-in for in-depth information.
According to another aspect, a xe2x80x9cfind others glyphxe2x80x9d automatically searches for and displays a listing of all other airings of a currently-selected program.
According to a further aspect, a xe2x80x9cflip glyphxe2x80x9d flips between vertical and horizontal configurations of the display area.
According to another aspect of the invention, a xe2x80x9crecord glyphxe2x80x9d allows for directly controlling recording with a single click.
According to another aspect of the invention, a World Wide Web (WWW) icon appears on the display when a link to a website associated with the currently-selected program exist. Clicking on the WWW icon connects the user""s system to the associated website.
According to another aspect of the invention, a linked services icon appears on the display when linked services associated with the currently-selected program are available. Clicking on the linked services icon configures the user""s system to access linked services.
According to another aspect of the invention, when the user moves the pointer over a video window showing a currently-tuned channel the window splits into two parts. A top part is a clickable area allowing the user to tune directly to a currently-selected program in the display area and a lower part allowing the user to return to the currently-tuned program that was being displayed before the window split.
According to another aspect of the invention, scrollable area are highlighted when the pointer is moved into the area with arrows indicating the direction of scrolling. Areas within a display area can activate scrolling of only a portion of a display area.
According to another aspect of the invention, each action is performed by a user is confirmed in a text window to reinforce the user""s confidence that the action has been performed.
According to another aspect of the invention, a display mode title area displays a current display mode icon and text description when not selected and displays alternative selectable display mode icons when activated.
According to another aspect of the invention, a browsing window may be activated when a program is being viewed which may display the record glyph and world and linked-services icons.
Other features and advantages of the invention will be apparent in view of the following detailed description and the appended drawings.